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2012/06/29

The plus size dress section at goodwill is usually taken for granted. Though I fit in small to medium size dresses, I didn't hesitate to delve in to try to find for a fabulous hidden treasure among these oversized clothes that I could use.

I saw this dress while shopping at Goodwill. It was half off so I never let it go off my hand. It screamed challenge. I really liked the pattern and I envisioned a dress that is an H&M material.. Also this is perfect to practice using my sewing machine. So this is my very first time to alter a dress

So basically, the lines represents where I cut it. I detached the sleeves and cut it at my desired length of sleeves.

Then I sewed it all back together. The sleeves are a little tricker. The sewing job is not at all perfect though.

2012/06/28

The end of June is here. It is officially summer. I can't even barely stay outside with this 110 degree az temperature. I just want to stay in the comfort of my air-condition!

But that shouldn't stop us for becoming productive and creative right, like our talented passionate new linkers from last week's Passion Parade Link Soiree.

Ahh. This is something to look forward to on summer. Ice cold Watermelon Lemonade Popsicle's by Homespun with Love.You should check out their blog. You are gonna to love them!

And what is July without red, blue and white colors? Yep! I am talking about the fourth of July. Have you got your fourth of July theme decor up yet? I just love Michelle of The Nest at Finch Rest Patriotic tablescapeespecially that lucky find cute birdhouse!

Don't you just think this drawer is gorgeous? The very talented Mallori of Vintage Finds shared the before and after pictures of the make-over! Are you into vintage inspiration finds? You should go and check out her super beautiful blog!

Feel free to grab this button if you have been featured here at Passion Parade Friday!

Thank you all so much for sharing your talents here at Passion Parade. You are all so wonderful and very creative.

I am so excited on what you are about to share this week!

So let's get this parade going but first... just a quick reminder before linking up.

1. Be a follower of Petites Passions. This way I could keep in touch with you.

2012/06/27

This is an easy recipe but requires a lot of chopping. If you have those chopping-made-easy gadgets, then this should not be a biggie.

This is usually a filling for a dish we call "Fresh Lumpia". Since I couldn't find a suitable wrapper, I decided to make it as a topping on rice. Hubby is not a vegan, but he had no complaints. In fact, he loved it! He craved for more!

This is a great alternative for salad :)

Recipe

1/2 medium cabbage shredded

2 quares of tofu cut into cubes

1 medium sweet potato cut into small cubes

1 carrot cut in thin strips

1 medium Singkamas or Mexican turnip cut in thin strips

3 cloves garlic

1 small onion sliced

1 cup water

Peanut Topping:

1/2 cup finely chopped peanuts

1 1/2 tsp sugar

Peanut Sauce:

1 tbsp peanuts finely chopped

1/4 cup brown sugar,

1/4 cup low sodium soy sauce

1 cup water

2 tbsp. cornstarch dissolved in 2 tbsp. water

2 cloves of crushed garlic

For the sauce:

1. Mix the garlic, brown sugar and water in a sauce pan and put into a boil.

2. Put the peanuts and dissolved cornstarch mixture. Wait auntil the mixture is thickened. Don't afraid to adjust the taste and consistency in your liking.

3. Set aside to cool down.

1. Sautee onions and garlic until the onions turns translucent.

2. Add the sweet potato and carrots. Cook and mix for about a minute or two. 3. Add the tofu and water and let it simmer until sweet potatoes are soft. Add some water if it dries up.

4. Put the cabbage but don't mix. Turn the heat off and put the lid on. Let the steam cook the cabbage so you don't overcook it.

4. Top with Mexican turnip.

Mix finely chopped peanuts and sugar together. Sprinkle it on the dish.

2012/06/26

Expect two or more desserts when you are in a Filipino gathering. We invited a couple from our church for a dinner in our house. Filipinos are known hospitality. We make sure that guests are well fed even to the point they say "No more please". We'd say "That's not gonna happen. Have some more!" The food would just keep on coming.

This was the other dessert I served at the dinner. I thought I'd like to give our guests a taste of where I came from.

This dessert is made with what we call "Ube" or purple yam. We love it as cake, ice-cream flavor, bun spread or rice cake filling, or in this case as "Halaya". Ube doesn't have a strong flavor, but it becomes a real sweet treat when mixed with right ingredients.

For halaya recipe, purple yam is finely grated and cooked with condensed milk, butter, vanilla extract or sometimes, with coconut milk, with a little hint of calamansi zest or lemon/lime zest as alternative

Crème caramel or leche flan as the name we call it in the Philippines is the dessert commonly seen on special occasions. On fiestas, birthdays and Christmas. Filipinos are always looking forward to the dessert part. Some would indulgely eat this first before the main course or with the main course.

Normaly, we use a llanera or oval tin mold to directly make the caramel and the same mold for the flan mixture. I couldn't find one, so I had to be resourceful. I used a foil mold, typically for mini loaves. Instead of directly making caramel in the mold, I cooked it in a sauce pan beforehand instead.

2012/06/25

I had no experience in sewing or whatsoever. Well, yes I remember in my home economics class, we tried to make an apron but I never really payed much attention to it. My sister who is craftier than me ended-up making my project instead.

It was only now that I am enjoying my time as a thrifty homemaker that I showed interest in D.I.Y decors. It made more sense to have a sewing machine.

This fabric was left-overs when I refurbished our dining room chairs which I got at the clearance section at Hancock fabrics.

I thought it would be fun to make a pillow cover with it and fortunately, I had a piece of paper transfer, made a design with the help of The Graphic's Fairy and put "Le Chateau Blue". That's what I want to call our living room :)

I apologize, I was too excited to try the sewing machine that I did not take pictures of step-by-step process of sewing pillow case.

However, one of our linkers from Passion Parade Link Soiree Babblings and More shared an easy tutorial on how to make gorgeous pillow covers!

2012/06/24

I know you might say "What in the world is that?". That was the same question as I had when I saw this poor fellow stuck in a sticky paper one time I was cleaning.

I have never seen anything like this so up-close so I took pleasure in taking photos of it with my phone. Like a little child I was, I was too intrigued that I had to poke it to see if it was still alive.

It moved

It wiggled

I screamed....It was still alive!!!

I live here in Arizona for less than a year now. On that period of time, AZ doesn't cease to amaze me with it's interesting wildlife going on around.

I immediately sent this picture to my husband. He told me not to mess with it because I didn't know if it is poisonous or anything.

Because of this circumstance, I plan to go to a wildlife museum here in Tucson to get educated with common desert animals we deal here everyday.

Some said this was a horny-toad lizard, some said it looked like Desert spiny lizard.

2012/06/21

I wanted to share a photo collage of amazing women who were included in Cindy Adkin's book Angels at My Door including me! I was able to put a face on names in the book. For those of you who haven't heard of Angels at My Door, the book is about different stories of different people who were touched by heavenly encounters and miracles.

Thanks Cindy for putting together this sweet photo collage :)

Now, leading the parade are awesome linkers from last week.

Do you love vintage mirrors? Check-out Donna's of My Shabby Chateau's mirror make-overs and surely gonna love it like I do! The elegance and beauty reflects the maker ;) Donna is awesome.

I like yogurts, but sometimes flavored yogurts sold in groceries almost taste so artificial. I'm gonna have to try this D.I.Y yougurt recipe by Rebekah of Potholes and Pantyhose.

I am so glad like me, hubby has an exotic adventurous taste. One thing we love doing together is trying out something new like this Shahi Tukray (Royal Bread Pudding) recipe by Ambreen of Simply Sweet 'n Savory. Check out her blog for more delicious treats!

Thank you all for your fantastic shares

Feel free to grab this button if you have been featured here at Passion Parade Friday!

I am so excited on what you are about to share this week! So let's get this parade going but first... just a quick reminder before linking up.

1. Be a follower of Petites Passions. This way I could keep in touch with you.

2012/06/17

I was 15 when my father died. There were so much in this life we have missed. I learned to rely on God to be my father and he hasn't failed me. But it didn't end there. God said...But wait! there's more! How about another dad!

3 years ago, my father in law did not only open his home for a fatherless little Filipina from Manila for a few months before our wedding. He opened his heart for another addition to his family. A daughter.

He made my transition in living here in America a lot easier. He made sure the thermostat was warm enough in winter, if not he gave me my own heater for my bedroom.

He was patient and brave enough to teach me how to drive.

He was with me in every step of the way in finding my talents. He is my number 1 fan. He believed in my creativity and encouraged me to pursue it eventhough it meant giving me his own DSLR.

He praised my works. He never failed to say he is proud of his darling little daughter like a dad cheering for his little girl on a stage play.

Though both of us are not experienced on having a father and daughter relationship, it has been a fun journey.

When I came to know Christ, I once wished for a family who's dedicated in the ministry and someone who would also be our spiritual guide and advisor.

I just realized I didn't bring any pictures of my father with me. Not even a single picture file on my computer or in my laptop. I guess it was okay. I don't have too many happy father and daughter memories to recollect anyway. Only this time when I came home from school, with a box of pizza on the table with a note on a napkin that says:

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MYRIC. I LOVE YOU

-DADDY

That message was such a big deal to me. My father is the most quiet person I've ever ﻿knew. He wasn't a handyman like most fathers. I never saw him lift a hammer or fix a broken chair. He was always away and was only home on weekends and stays in bedroom watch TV all the time.

This routine convinced me that he probably didn't love me. It went on and on until one early morning, we recieved a call from the hospital asking us to claim his dead body. It was around 5 am, I was still half asleep, hoping everything was just a dream. We drove to the hospital and I saw a body wrapped in a blanket on a stretcher. I was shocked. I thought I will not cry until I prove it was him. It was hard to believe it was the same person I called my daddy. As they took him away to the funeral home, a lady came to me and asked "Are you Myric?". "Yes" I replied, "Your father loves you very very much". I started to cry.

Even though he failed to claim the title THE BEST DAD IN THE WORLD, but he never failed to provide financial support for our education. Our relation-0-meter was almost down to strangers along with his marriage to my mom, but oddly with all my resentments, I cannot deny the fact that I love my father.

I was 15 when he died. I wished we had more time. It is sad to think our memories were dead even before he died. There are so much in this life that was stolen from us, or we just failed to seize the moment to connect. It was too late. But God said no it's not.

2012/06/15

Hubby and I are still recuperating our aching muscles after we seized last beautiful saturday of fun and game playing ultimate frisbee with our young friends from the church. I can't believe it's been almost a week yet our muscles still hurt! I guess we are just not sports people. But we had so much fun and we wouldn't mind doing it again.

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Winning theme pose.

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What about you? Are you seizing this season to do fun activities, or is it too hot outside that you just rather stay home to craft or cook perhaps? If you so, why not share it today at Passion Parade Link Soiree!

Check-out the featured awesome linkers from last week.

I like learning something new, like this Coconut Bok Choy Smoothie from Good Girl Gone Green. I haven't tried Bok Choy for smoothie but I am keeping an open mind. The recipe shows it would taste good!

I so adore this idea by Jody of Rooted In Thyme of monogramming cups to spell Paris for decor! Check out her blog to see how she nicely displayed it in her garden.

Thanks to this recipe by Rebekah of Potholes and Pantyhose, I think I will be making my own granola using agave nectar.

This is one adorable baby tag blanket made by Jade of There was a Crooked House. Check out her blog for tutorial. Her baby's smile just melted my heart. So cuuute!!

Thank you all so much again for sharing your talents. You are all truly a great source of inspiration!

Feel free to grab this button if you have been featured here at Passion Parade Friday!

I am so excited on what you are about to share this week! So let's get this parade going but first... just a quick reminder before linking up.

1. Be a follower of Petites Passions. This way I could keep in touch with you.